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Welcome to “Our Point of View” – Channeling Creative Minds on the Autism Spectrum

 

This year our P2G partnership (St. Paul, Sovev Kinneret & Milwaukee) sponsored a Special Education Seminar Series which included five special education topics geared towards educators, teachers and families. This series provided tools for the classroom, home, and social and emotional support for all involved.

 

One of the presenters, Stacey Dinner-Levin is both a parent of a child with autism and an inclusion professional in the Minneapolis Public Schools. She wrote the award-winning play, Autistic License. Stacey and her husband, Michael, raised their family in the Twin Cities. Their children performed in St. Paul JCC plays, attended Camp Butwin, and are members of Mount Zion Synagogue. Her son Geordy is one of the artists featured.

 

This art exhibit features three unique and talented young adults with autism. They each found a way to express themselves through their own artistic lens.

Aviv Avramovich

My name is Aviv Avramovich (aviv = the spring season) I am twenty years young, I live in Kibbutz BeitKeshet, Lower Galilee, Israel. I chose this name for my first exhibition because it documents and represents my perspective to my environment/surrounding ... Angles of my Surroundings is a collection of colors, shapes, light, and shade... The combination of which depicts my world...Photography is a tool that allows me freedom of expression where verbal communication fails me... Making the exhibition took me through a process of how to represent myself... Via choosing photos, choosing names for the works, setting and arranging them, I moved from a scattered overloaded collection to a collection which has accuracy and clarity regarding the messages I wish to convey... Presenting the exhibit is my opportunity to reveal a significant part of myself, of my relationship to my surrounding environment. And it offers its viewers new angles in which to view the landscapes of our Sovev Kinneret Region.

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Geordy Levin

Geordy Levin is an artist, from St. Paul, who has autism. Geordy attends a day program for adults with disabilities called Partnership Resources Inc (PRI).  Through art classes offered at PRI, Geordy developed his love for making art.  As a child Geordy resisted making art of any kind. Perfectionism and difficulty in language processing created a great deal of anxiety with art related projects.

 

With PRI’s gentle and patient approach Geordy was reassured that there are no mistakes in art.  Eventually, Geordy became increasingly confident in creating art and now takes great pleasure in the process.  He has sold many of his paintings and has a Redbubble account that sells his images on products.  Geordy takes great pride in his work and loves being able to share and sell his pieces. His unique and often whimsical pieces give an insight into Geordy we did not have access to before he began using creative expression.

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Isaac Friedman

Isaac Friedman is an incredible artist on the autistic spectrum. Born and raised in Milwaukee in 1992, Isaac graduated from Homestead High School and then attended a college internship program in Indiana.

 

As Isaac grew up, his mother put lots of easels up and took turns painting and drawing with him. The fun memories and experiences inspired Isaac to express himself through his artwork.

 

Isaac found drawing and creating art to be calming and satisfying. Creating animals and caricatures made Isaac confident to express himself and connect to the world around him. 

 

Presently, Isaac lives in Mequon, WI. His hobbies include drawing, piano playing, movies, reading and learning new vocabulary words. He also enjoys trivia, scrabble, puzzles, and word searching. 

 

Isaac is a wonderful member of the Friendship Circle of Wisconsin. He enjoys utilizing the Friendship art studio as inspiration to create various masterpieces.

 

There is a lot of love in his drawings, whether its mother and baby animals or caricatures of two completely different individuals coming together as friends.

 

This is what Isaac is all about: Finding love and friendship in a world that so desperately needs it.

 

Isaac’s art masterpieces are hanging prominently on the walls of Friendship Art Studio and can be visited at any time.

 

Looking at the world the way Isaac does, certainly can make us see love and beauty in everything around us.

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Thank you for visiting our Art Exhibit!

 

If you are looking for special needs resources in your community, please refer to the list below.

 

Twin Cities

Partnership Resources Inc (PRI) - https://www.partnershipresources.org/

 

Milwaukee

Friendship Circle of Wisconsin, Café & Bakery & Art Studio - https://www.fcwi.org/

 

Sovev Kinneret

Krembo Wings - https://www.krembo.org.il/en/

Partnership2Gether (P2G)

P2G is a program of the St. Paul Jewish Federation that creates people-to-people connections between the St. Paul Jewish community and the people of Sovev Kinneret in Northeastern Israel. If you want to get involved with P2G, please get in touch with Tal Dror Rouache, Israel Program Director & YALA Manager, at tdror@stpaulfed.orgLearn more about P2G.